Category Archives: Limited Access Micropiles

This is yet another unfortunate reminder of how dangerous / deadly our work can be. While the exact details are not known as yet, it is thought that some type of entanglement incident occurred between an employee and the rotating drill string (in this case the cfa) you see in the photos.

It is a reminder of just how close employees get to “the work” during a tieback installation. It is possible that the communication between the drill rig operator and the helper were poor, the employee was wearing loose fitting clothing (i.e. a safety vest), he was cleaning the auger flights with a 2×4 or some other object, the emergency shut off switch was not functional, or some other probable cause, leading up to the loss of this young man’s life.

Please try to use this article a learning tool. Resist the temptation to look up the affected contractor and better spend your time looking at your own operations. What can we do as individuals or as an association to help prevent a tragic accident such as this from occurring once again? Observe how you install a tieback or micropile. How close do your employees get to the rotating drill steel? How good are the communications between the operator and helper? Does the emergency shut off switch actually work? Do you inspect / check it every shift? Remember too, this type of incident could take place on a drilled shaft project, any CFA type project, soil mixing or slurry wall project or any other environment where we have to work in close proximity to a rotating object.

Use this unfortunate accident to serve as a deadly reminder of just how dangerous our work is.